Recent years have seen an increasing demand for large liquid crystal panels such as large liquid crystal televisions, and liquid crystal panels ranging in size from small to large are produced.
Conventionally, in the anisotropic conductive film (ACF) bonding process, pre-bonding process, final bonding process, or the like of a liquid crystal driver mounter that bonds semiconductor components to the outer edge portion of a liquid crystal panel, a backup stage equipped to such liquid crystal driver mounter is used. The processes of bonding an ACF tape and placing electronic components are performed by placing the outer edge portion of the liquid crystal panel on such backup stage.
Meanwhile, as a technology to improve the accuracy of placing electronic components onto the outer edge portion of a liquid crystal panel, there is disclosed a mounter for a liquid crystal panel that is capable of smoothly bonding components under application of pressure despite a level difference between a sucking and supporting surface and a portion onto which components are placed, while appropriately maintaining such a level difference (for example, refer to Japanese Laid-Open Patent application No. 05-228755).
However, since a relatively large liquid crystal panel, which has been growing in demand in recent years, has long sides, there is a problem that such large liquid crystal panel is more susceptible to warping and bending at the outer edge portion onto which semiconductor components are mounted, compared with a small liquid crystal panel, and that the accuracy of placing electronic components in each bonding process of component mounting is decreased. For example, there is a problem that, due to warping at its outer edge portion onto which components are placed, a liquid crystal panel partially rises from the backup causing displacement of semiconductor components, defective bonding, damages in a liquid crystal panel glass, and the like when pressure is applied by a pressure tool.
Furthermore, it is desired to reduce the occurrence of defective bonding of electronic components in a liquid crystal mounter since the price of liquid crystal panels increases as their sizes become larger.
The present invention has been conceived in view of the above circumstances, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a mounter that places electronic components with higher accuracy even in the case of performing component mounting and the like for a large liquid crystal panel.
A second object of the present invention is to provide a substrate processing apparatus that improves the accuracy of processing a substrate by performing, in each process of component mounting or the like for a substrate such as a large liquid crystal panel, warping correction of the outer edge portion by performing the suction process appropriate for the size of each liquid crystal panel.